Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds to release Lovely Creatures compilation

"There are some people out there who just don't know where to start with The Bad Seeds," says Cave in a statement. "Others know the catalogue better than I do! This release is designed to be a way into three decades of music making. That's a lot of songs. The songs we have chosen are the ones that have stuck around, for whatever reason. Some songs are those that demand to be played live. Others are lesser songs that are personal favourites of ours. Others are just too big and have too much history to leave out. And there are those that didn't make it, poor things. They are the ones you must discover by yourselves."

Cave and founding member Mick Harvey, with help from the current lineup, curated the compilation with members from throughout the band's lifespan contributing unseen pictures and memorabilia.

Lovely Creatures was slated for a 2015 release but postponed so that Cave & Co. could focus on the phenomenal Skeleton Tree.

"The Bad Seeds made Skeleton Tree in Paris towards the end of 2015 - in a strange, raw, and different present," writes Cave in an afterword. "Whatever Skeleton Tree became, it was a wholly necessary addition to the band’s story. Lovely Creatures lost, for a time, its place in the narrative. Now, it seems the time is right to recognise and celebrate the Bad Seeds and their many achievements. So here, at last, it is: Lovely Creatures."

The 3xCD boxset also contains a two-hour DVD and a 48-page hardcover book featuring "original essays, candid and personal photos taken by the band family and friends, and reproductions of band memorabilia." Find the 3xCD tracklist below.